ways of offender profiling

• Define ‘offender profiling’.


  An investigative tool employed by the police when solving crimes. It is used to help focus the investigation and narrow the list of likely suspects.
• Identify the 3 ways of offender profiling.

  Top-down approach, bottom-up approach, and geographical profiling.
• top-down approach to offender profiling

  The top-down approach was developed from the work of the FBI who found, based on their interviews with serial killers, that there are two types of offenders: organised and disorganised. An organised offender shows evidence of planning, leaves little evidence behind, and has a type of victim whereas a disorganised offender shows little evidence of planning, leaves a lot of evidence, and the victim is random.
• Outline the top-down approach to offender profiling. social and psychological characteristics

  These signature ways of working are associated with their social and psychological characteristics e.g. organised offenders are likely to be more socially and sexually competent, have a higher IQ, and are more likely to work in a skilled profession. The top-down approach therefore beings with the profiler being mindful that an offender can be organised or disorganised.
• outline the top-down approach to offender profiling - identifying organised/disorganised

  They then identify whether the offender is organised or disorganised by analysing the type of crime, evidence at the crime scene, the victim and where the crime took place. Based on this, they can predict the offenders social and psychological characteristics e.g. if they are disorganised they may predict they have lower than average IQ, are unemployed, not in a relationship etc.
• limitation of the top-down approach is that it is subjective

  This is because it involves the profiler assessing the crime scene and then coming to an opinion as to whether the criminal is organised or disorganised. This is a limitation as it makes it an unscientific way of offender profiling. In contrast, the bottom-up approach is considered a more scientific way because it is a more data-driven approach and is therefore considered more objective. Therefore questions credibility.
•  limitation of the top-down approach is that it will not be useful when there is a lack of data i.e. no obvious crime scene/the crime scene is lacking detail.

  E.g. common offences such as burglary typically result in a crime scene that reveals very little about the offender. This is a limitation because it would result in the profiler being unable to identify whether the criminal is organized or disorganised and, in turn, what their likely characteristics will be. Therefore questions credibility.
• Outline the bottom-up approach to offender profiling.

  The bottom-up approach is a British, data-driven approach to offender profiling. one example of the bottom-up approach to offender profiling is investigative psychology which involves analysing evidence at the crime scene and then inputting this onto the police database. They then compare this to statistical data on previous, similar crimes to make predictions about the characteristics of the likely offender of the current crime.
• Outline the bottom-up approach to offender profiling. - example

  E.g. if data on similar crimes show they have all been previously committed by unemployed Caucasian men, then the offender may also match this criterial. Investigative psychology may also determine whether a series of unsolved offences are linked in that they are likely to have been committed by the same person (e.g. if data from the crime scene analyses are very similar). As a result, the bottom-up approach assumes that offenders display consistent behaviour across their crimes
•  strength of the bottom-up approach is that is objective

  This is because it is a data-driven approach that relies on statistics from police data bases to create the offender profile. This is a strength because it makes it a scientific way of offender profiling. In contrast, the top-down approach is considered less scientific because it relies on the profiler’s subjective hunch when making a decision as to whether the offender is likely to be organised or disorganised. Therefore adds credibility.
• limitation relies on offenders being consistent in their crimes. - comparing data

   This is because it relies on comparing data from crimes to assess whether it is likely they were committed by the same person or someone similar. limitation because not all offenders will commit crimes in consistent ways e.g. an unanticipated event may mean a criminal might deviate from what they would normally do.
• limitation of the bottom-up approach is that it relies on offenders being consistent in their crimes. - theives

  Or for thieves, they may change how they commit their crimes depending on what they are stealing/where they are stealing from. This is a limitation because it makes it difficult to compare crimes and, in turn, identify whether it is likely they would be carried out by a similar/same offender. Therefore questions credibility.
•  limitation of the bottom-up approach is that it will not be useful when there is a lack of data i.e. when profiling rare crimes

  This is because it requires statistical information from similar crimes which may not exist. This is a limitation because if there is a lack of/no previous data, there profiler will not be able to make assumptions about what type of person the criminal is likely to be. Therefore questions credibility.
• outline geographical profiling - spatial behaviour of crimes

  Geographical profiling involves studying the spatial behaviour of crimes (i.e. where they are being committed). The aim is to identify clues as to where the offender may live, work and socialise. This is because it is based on the assumption that serial offenders will restrict their crimes to areas they are familiar with. This means that, in most cases, the pattern of offending is likely to form a circle around where the offender lives, and this becomes more apparent the more offences there are.
• outline geographical profiling - educated guess

  Geographical profiling may also help investigators make educated guesses about where the offender is likely to strike next (i.e. in other areas within the circle). As a result, geographical profiling uses data from crime scenes (where the crime took place), local crime statistics (where similar crimes have taken place), and local transport links (to identify ways in which the offender may be commuting).
• A strength of geographical profiling is that it is objective.

  This is because it relies on data from police data bases create an analysis of where crimes are being committed. This is a strength because it makes it a scientific way of offender profiling. In contrast, the top-down approach is considered less scientific because it relies on the profiler’s subjective hunch when making a decision as to whether the offender is likely to be organised or disorganised. Therefore adds credibility.
• A limitation of geographical profiling - relies on offenders being consistent in where they commit their crimes.

  This is because geographical profiling relies on the offender committing crimes in or around their area so that where they live/work/socialise or might strike next can be predicted. limitation because some offenders commit crimes a long distance away from their home and can drastically change the locations of their crimes. This would result in difficulties when trying to predict where they may live/work/socialise or where they may strike next. Therefore questions credibility.
•  limitation of geographical profiling - it will not be useful when there is a lack of or incomplete data.

  police data on crimes tends to be limited in that not all crimes are reported to the police or recorded by the police. limitation because geographical profiling requires accurate data on crimes that have been committed in an area to identify the approximate location in which the offender may live/work/socialise and to identify possible areas in which they may offend next. If this data is not complete, it could impair or mislead the offender profile. questions credibility.
• Comparing bottom up/ top down approach - bottom-up approach -scientific

  The bottom-up approach and geographical are considered more scientific than the top-down approach. This is because the bottom-up approach and geographical profiling both rely on statistical data on police databases to make predictions about the likely offender (bottom-up approach) and where they may live/work and socialize (geographical profiling).
• Comparing bottom up/ top down approach - top down - less scientific

  In contrast, the top-down approach to offender profiling is considered less scientific because it relies on the profiler’s hunch with regards to whether the offender may be organised or disorganised. This is based on their subjective analysis of the crime scene, meaning the offender profile is less likely to be objective.
• comparing bottom up/ top down approach/geographical profiling - top-down - consistent

  top-down approach relies on the offender showing consistent signs of them being organised or disorganised. This is because an organised offender who faces an unanticipated event during their crime may be incorrectly identified as disorganised which, in turn, could mislead the investigation.
• comparing bottom up/ top down/. geographical profiling - bottom up - relies on being consistent

  Meanwhile, the bottom-up approach relies on the offender being consistent so that their crimes can be compared to historical crimes on the police database to identify whether they are likely to have been committed by the same/a similar person.
• comparing bottom up/ top down/ geographical profiling - geo profiling - consistent


  Finally, geographical profiling relies on the offender consistently committing crimes in areas around where they live/work/socialize in order to make an accurate prediction of their location.
• all may be of little use when data/evidence is limited - top down approach

   the top-down approach may be of little use when the crime scene reveals very little about the offender and whether they are organised or disorganised.
• all may be a little use when data/evidence is limited - bottom up approach

  the bottom-up approach may be of little use when statistics on previous crimes are lacking or incomplete, meaning the profiler cannot use this data to make predictions about the likely offender of the current crime.
• all may be a little use when data/evidence is limited - geographical profiling

  geographical profiling may be of little use when crime data is incomplete as it relies on prior data to build a picture of where the offender has previously committed their crimes to make a prediction about where they may live/work/socialize and where they may strike next.